Nebrasketball Falls Short Against Maryland

After a long break, the Huskers went on the road to face the Maryland Terrapins, a road game that would’ve been a huge boost to their NCAA tournament resume.

Miles Jacket Tracker: 18:40 (after Maryland’s first basket)

Coming into this game, most people expected Maryland to attack the rim right away. However, Maryland came out of the gates firing early, making their first three threes and jumping out to an early lead.

Nebraska responded quickly with a 7-0 run, thanks to James Palmer Jr. Last year Palmer took over the Maryland game, seeming to never miss and scoring 27 points. Through the first ten minutes, he already had 13 points and three assists. On the road, Palmer will be the key to victory.

Around the U8 Media Timeout, the Huskers held a 25-20 lead, and looked like they were going to blow the door open, but went cold from the field, missing five shots in a row at one point. It seemed as soon as Palmer went to the bench, the offense went stale.

Unfortunately for the Huskers, Bruno Fernando began to take over during a three minute scoring drought, leading the Terrapins to a 9-0 run. As soon as Palmer came right back in, Nebraska went on a an 8-0 run of their own to take a 37-33 lead with a minute left. Heading into half after a last second Thomas Allen floater, Nebraska lead 39-35.

The beginning to the second half looked grim, with Nebraska missing 3 out of their first 4 free throws, but then oh my goodness Isaiah Roby:

However Maryland quickly fought back with a 10-2 run right after that, with Palmer giving away two turnovers. Nebraska had been up by seven ready to break loose, but back to back threes from Maryland tied it at 49-49.

From that point on Maryland was doing whatever they wanted against Nebraska’s man to man defense, getting the ball down low to Fernando, and letting the big guy kick it out for open threes. When Miles finally decided to switch to the 1-3-1 defense, the teams were tied at 67 heading with 3:24 left.

Maryland controlled all the momentum in those last few minutes, they forced bad shots and had great offensive possessions. That is a game they could've easily won and had the opportunity to pick up a great conference road win.

Final Score: Nebraska 72 Maryland 74

Next Huskers game is Sunday against #25 Iowa. Nebraska falls to 1-2 in Big Ten play. Tough pill to swallow.